Brake-rigging for railway-cars.



I L. E. OLIVER & A. CURE-TON.

BRAKE BIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLIOATION FILED DBO. 2'7, 1910.

Patented Apr. 1.6, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (20., WASHINGTON, D. c.

L. E. OLIVER. & A. OURETON. BRAKE BIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLIOATION TILED D120. 27, 1910.

1 23,388, Patented Apr. 16; 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Ga C051 wLUMBlA PMNOGRAPH C0,, WASHINGTON. n. c.

L. E. OLIVER & A. OURETON. BRAKE RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC 27, 1910.

1,023,388. I Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 3.

Jaw/(i040? COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH C(LJVASHINGTON. n. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS E. OLIVER, 0F MAYWOOD, AND ALBERT GURETO'N, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BRAKE-RIGGING FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LOUIS E. OLIVER and ALBERT OURETON, citizens of theUnited States, and residents of the cities of Maywood and Chicago,respectively, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Brake-Rigging for Railway-Cars,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in brake rigging for streetrailway cars and more specifically to the rigging in cars in which theends of the body of the car are supported upon trucks of the two wheel te.

The object of our invention is the production of mechanism whereby theslack in the brake rigging of a car of the character mentioned may bereadily and expeditiously taken up or adjusted by the motorman ortrainman from a convenient position within the car or exteriorlythereof, and along one side; it being necessary, as is known, at thepresent time in order to effect such adjustment for the motorman ortrainman to crawl under the car or to drive the latter to a positionover a pit where access to the bottom of the car may be gained.

A further object is the provision of a brake rigging adjusting mechanismwhich will be economical of construction and of great efliciency inoperation.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

With these objects in view our invention consists in the combination andarrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Our invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 isa top plan view of a conventional car of the type above mentioned, thecar body being omitted, to which is applied adjusting mechanismembodying our inven tion, Figs. 2 and 3 are elevations of the respectiveends of the construction shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 1 is a centrallongitudinal section thereof.

Referring now to the drawings 1 indicates the body of the car which .isof ordinary con-' struction, the ends thereof being supported upon theusual body bolsters 2. Arranged below the bolsters 2 at the respectiveends of the car are the brake beams 3 and 3'. Said brake beams carrybrake shoes 4 at their respective extremities, the latter being adaptedto cooperate with the car wheels 5 which are arranged intermediate ofthe beams 3 and 3, so that operation of the brake shoes is effected byinward movement of said brake beams. Release springs 6 are secured attheir upper extremities to the bolsters 2, the lower extremities of saidsprings engaging against the inner edges of the beams 3 and 8 serving asa means of effecting the release of the brake shoes 4, that is outwardmovement thereof when the brake beams are released by the motorman.Arranged adjacent the outer longitudinal edges of the beams 3 and 3 andparallelly extending therewith are secondary beams 7 and 7 respectively,the latter serving as will be observed, to limit outward or releasingmovement of said brake beams determining the slack of the latter, thearrangement being such that such movement of said brake beams or theslack thereof, may be increased or diminished by varying the distancebetween said beams 7 and 7. The beams 7 and 7 are connected by rods 8extending longitudinally of the car, the corresponding headed ends 9, ofsaid rods being rigidly secured to the beams 7 by housings 10, thelatter, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, being formed to snugly engage thesquared or polygonally The opposite ends of said rods 8 pass looselythrough tubular housings 11 rigidly secured upon the upperside of thebeams 7. Threaded upon the outer or last mentioned extremities of saidrods 8 (said ends as will be observed being oppositely screw threaded)are nuts 12, the inner sides of the latter engaging against the outerextremities of spacing sleeves 13 arranged between said nuts and theouter extremities of the members 11. With this arrangement it will beseen that adjustment of thebeams 7 and 7 toward or from each other asabove mentioned, may be readily effected by rotation of the nuts 12 uponthe rods 8. The-arrangement is such then that adjustment of the slack inthe brake rigging may be effected by simply adjusting the positions ofthe nuts 12 upon the rods 8. A

Operation of the brake beams 3 and 3 is effected by means of levers 14which are pivotally secured intermediate their extremities as at 15 uponthe upper sides of said brake beams, corresponding extremities ofeffected by rotation of the shaft 23.

said levers being fulcrumed as at 16 to clevises 17 rigidly secured toand projecting from the beams 7 and 7 Pivotally secured to the oppositeextremities of said levers 1a are inwardly projecting brake rods 18, thearrangement being such, that inward drawing of said brake'rods by thebrake mechanism which is controlled by the motorman or brakeman, effectsinward movement of the brake beams 3 and 3 effecting the'en-' gagementof the shoes 4 carried thereby with the wheels 5. This mechanism foroperating the brake beams is, however, old and well known, no claimbeing here made thereto, since the same does not in any way affect theconstruction which constitutes ourinvention;

Arranged adjacent to the outer threaded extremities of the rods 8 andcoplanar with the latter is a transversely extending shaft 19, the samebeing rotatably mounted in bearing brackets 20, 20 and 20 secured to andprojecting from the beams 7. Fixed to the respective extremities of theshaft 19 are bevel gears 21, the latter meshing with similar bevel gearscut in the outer edges of the nuts 12, so that rotation of the latter ineffecting, the adjustment thereof upon the rods 8 may be effected byrotating the shaft 19. Also fixed to the shaft 19 intermediate theextremities thereof is a larger bevel gear 22. Arranged above the shaft19 and adjacent the gear 22 is a vertically extending shaft 23, thelower end thereof being mounted in a bracket 24 secured to andprojecting from the beam 7, the upper end portion of said shaft beingmounted in a bearing 25 secured to and projecting from the adjacentbolster 2. Fixed to the lower extremities of the shaft 23 is a bevelpinion 26 which meshes with the gear 22 carried by the shaft 19, so.that rotation of the latter may be The upper extremity of the shaft 23projects through the permanent bottom 27 of the car body 1 terminatingin a pivoted operating handle 28, the latter being readily accessiblefor manual rotation of the shaft 23 through a pivoted or hinged section29 of the removable or upper floor 30 of said car body.

Spaced above and parallelly extending with the shaft 19 is a countershaft 31 mounted in the upper end of the bearing brackets 20 and 20, thelatter being upwardly extended in order to accommodate said shaft. Saidshaft 31 carries a gear 32 at its innerextremities, said gear 32 meshingwith a gear 33 fixed to the shaft 19, so that rotation of the latter maybe efiected by rotation of said shaft 31. The outer extremity of theshaft 31 terminates in a squared end 31 which is positioned laterally ofthe car for ready engagement from a position alongside, the car, saidend being preferably formed so that the same may be engaged by themotormans controlling handle, whereby said shaft may be readily rotated.However, any other suitable handle or crank for rotating said shaft willsuffice.

With the construction as set forth then, it will be observed thatrotation of the shaft 19, in order to effect the adjustment of the nuts12, and which adjustment serves as a means of adjusting the slack of thebrake rigging as above described, may be readily and expeditiouslyeffected from a position either within the body ofthe car or from aposition exteriorly thereof, and alongside the latter. By reason ofthe'readiness with which the slackinthe brake rigging may be adjustedwith this construction, a motorman or other driver of a car will see toit that a proper slack in the brake rigging will be constantlymaintained, this being to his ad vantage, since a car may evidently becon trolled with greater facility under these conditions. This being so,it will tend to prevent accidents which are generally caused by toogreat or too little slack in a brake rigging, thereby resulting in asaving to the company controlling the car. Also, with the proper slackin the brake rigging, a car will operate to its best advantage whichalso results in economy.

Vhile we have shown what we deem to be the preferred form of ourconstruction, we do not wish to be limited thereto as there might bevarious changes made in the details of construction and arrangements ofparts described without departing from the spirit of the invention;hence we desire to avail ourselves of such variations and modificationsas comewithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;means at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determining theslack of said beams; and connecting means establishing an operativeconnection between saidslack determining means 'cooperating with therespective brake beams; of manually operable means cooperating with thelast-mentioned.connecting means whereby the positions of said slackdetermining means relative to said brake beams may be manually adjustedfrom a position other than one under the car, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;means at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determining theslack of said beams; and connecting means establishing an operativeconnection between said slack determining means cooperating with therespective brake beams; of rotatable means cooperating with thelastmentioned connecting means whereby the positions of said slackdetermining means relative to said brake beams may be manually adjustedfrom a position laterally of the car or within the car body,substantially as described.

3. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;means at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determining theslack of said beams; and connecting means establishing an operativeconnection between said slack determining means cooperating with therespective brake beams; of rotatable means on said connecting means foradjusting the positions of said slack determining means relative to saidbrake beams; and rotatable means operatively connected with saidlast-mentioned rotatable adjusting means whereby the latter may bemanually adjusted from positions laterally of the car or within the carbody, substantially as described.

4:. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;means at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determining theslack of said beams; and connecting means establishing an operativeconnection between said slack determining means cooperating with therespective brake beams; of rotatable means threaded upon said connectingmeans for adjusting the positions of said slack determining meansrelative to said brake beams; and rotatable means operatively connectedwith said screw threaded adjusting means whereby the latter may bemanually adjusted from a position other than one beneath the car,substantially as described.

5. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;and means at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determiningthe slack of said beams; of bars extending between and connecting saidslack determining means cooperating with the respective brake beams;rotatable means threaded upon said bars for adjusting the positions ofsaid slack determining means relative to said brake beams; and rotatablemeans operatively connected with said screw threaded adjusting meanswhereby the latter may be manually adjusted upon said bars from aposition other than one beneath the car, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;and means at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determiningthe slack of said beams; of bars extending between and connecting saidslack determining means cooperating with the respective brake beams;nuts having gears formed thereon threaded upon said bars for adjustingthe positions of said slack determining means relative to said brakebeams; and rotatable means meshing with said adjusting nut-s wherebysaid nuts may be manually adjusted upon said bars from a position withinthe body of the car or laterally of the latter, substantially asdescribed.

7 The combination with a brake'rigging for railway cars comprising brakebeams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other; andmeans at each of said beams cooperating therewith for determining theslack of said beams; of nonrotatable bars extending between andconnecting said slack determining'means cooperating with the respectivebrake beams; nuts having gears formed thereon threaded upon said barsfor adjusting the positions of said slack determining means relative tosaid brake beams; a rotatable shaft; gears carried by said shaft meshingwith the gears on said adjusting nuts; and manually rotatable shaftsoperatively connected with said first-mentioned shaft, saidlast-mentioned shafts being accessible for manual rotation from aposition within the body of car or laterally of the latter,substantially as described.

8. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprisingbrake beams adapted in operation to be moved toward and from each other;beams at the outer sides of said brake beams cooperating with the latterfor determining the slack thereof; of non-rotatable bars extendingbetween and connecting said slack determining beams; nuts having gearsformed thereon threaded upon said connecting bars for adjusting thepositions of said slack determining beams relative to said brake beams;a rotatable shaft; gears carried by said shaft meshing with said gearson said adjusting nuts; rotatable shafts geared to said first-mentionedshaft, said last-mentioned shafts being accessible for rotation from aposition within the body of the car or laterally of the latter,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS E. OLIVER. ALBERT CURETON. Witnesses W. 0. SMITH, JOSHUA R. H.Po'r'rs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

